Dam Mwen Yo

SKU N/A Category Instruments: ,

PDF order includes a digital copy of the full score and performance backing track. Printed order includes download access to the performance backing track. Please note: PDFs cannot be printed.

Instrumentation: Cello and recorded voices

Duration: 5′ 28″

Program Notes: Dam mwen yo in Haitian Creole simply translates to “my ladies”. In Haiti, the cultural image of women is one of strength. They are pillars of their homes and communities, and are both fearless and loving, all while carrying the weight of their families and children on their backs. As a first generation Haitian-American, these women – my mother, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, cousins – were central to my upbringing and my understanding of what it means to be a woman. In Dantan, Haiti-Sud, where my family is from, it is rare to walk down the countryside roads without hearing the voices of women – in the fields, cooking for their loved ones, gathering water at the wells with their babies. This piece and the voices within it are representative of these ladies – my ladies. And the cello sings their song – one of strength, beauty, pain and simplicity in a familiar landscape.

Commissioned by Amanda Gookin for The Forward Music Project.

Watch Video

$40.00$45.00

× Product has been added to your cart